Concept of Organisational Conflict:
Organisational conflict is a disagreement between two or more organisation members or groups arising from the fact that they must share scarce resources or work activities and/or from the fact that they have different statuses, goals, values or perceptions.
Stages of Organisational Conflict:Organisational conflict can be more readily understood if it is considered as dynamic process. Process here indicates a series of events. Each conflict is made up of a sequence of inter-locking conflict episodes.
Five stages of a conflict episode may be identified as:
1. Latent conflict:
Latent conflict provides the necessary antecedent conditions for conflict in organisation. Here participants only anticipate conflict.
Four basic types of latent conflicts are:
a. Competition for scarce resources,
b. Drive for autonomy,
c. Divergence of subunit goals, and
d. Role conflict.
2. Perceived conflict:
Perceived conflict is due to the parties’ misunderstanding of each other’s true position. Such a conflict can be resolved by improving communication between the parties.
3. Felt conflict:
A person X may be aware that he is in serious disagreement with Y over some policy. If this makes X tense and affects his relationship with Y then, the conflict is felt by the two. Conflict arises only after the differences become personalized or internalized (felt).
4. Manifest conflict:
This is the stage for open conflict. It takes the form of open aggression, sabotage, apathy, withdrawal etc.
5. Conflict aftermath:
The aftermath of a conflict may be either positive or negative for the organisation depending on how the conflict is resolved. If conflict is resolved to the satisfaction of all the parties involved, the basis for a more cooperative relationship may be laid. On the other hand, if the conflict is merely suppressed (but not resolved), the latent condition of conflict may be aggravated and explode in a more serious and violent form at a later stage.
Types of Conflict
Organizational Conflict can be classified in 4 ways.
- Intra-individual/Intra-personal Conflict.
- Inter-personal conflict.
- Intra-group Conflict.
- Inter-group conflict.
These conflicts can occur because of the task, relationship, or process related issues.
1. Intra-individual/Intra-personal Conflict
Conflict can be intra-personal, where an individual’s objective and vision differs from his/her company’s overall vision. This refers to conflict within an individual.
Intra-individual conflict arises from frustration, numerous roles which demand equal attention but is riot always possible to devote, and goals having both negative and positive aspects.
3 types of Intra-individual/Intra-personal Conflict are;
- Goal conflict,
- Conflict from frustration, and
- Role conflict.
2. Inter-personal conflict
The most basic type of conflict is inter-personal.
It is between two colleagues – arising from a host of reasons ranging from differences in personality, work-style, and personal background.
The conflict at inter-personal level involves two or more individuals and is the most common and most recognized type of conflict, In a way all conflicts are interpersonal conflicts because most of them involve a conflict between a person in one organization or a group and another person in some other organization or a group.
4 primary sources of interpersonal conflict are.
- Personal Differences,
- Lack of Information,
- Role in Compatibility, and
- Environmental Stress.
3. Intra-group Conflict
When an individual is pitted against a group and is either unwilling or unable to conform to group dynamics, he or she invariably leaves the team due to intra-group conflict.
4. Inter-group conflict
When the conflict is inter-group, two teams are involved in a deadlock, endangering the successful completion of a project due to differences in group dynamics.
Organizational conflict is the discord that arises when the goals, interests or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible and those individuals or groups block or thwart one another’s attempts to achieve their objective.
Reasons behind inter-group conflict are;
- Competition for Resources.
- Task Interdependence.
- Jurisdictional Ambiguity.
- Status Struggles.
Conflict Process:
Conflict Process consists of five stages that show how conflict begins, grows, and unfolds among individuals or groups with different goals, interests or values of the organization.
- Potential Opposition or Incompatibility.
- Cognition and Personalization.
- Intentions.
- Behavior.
- Outcomes.
These stages are described below;
Stage 1: Potential Opposition or Incompatibility
The first step in the conflict process is the presence of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to develop. These cause or create opportunities for organizational conflict to rise.
They need not lead directly to conflict, but one of these conditions is necessary if the conflict is to surface.
For simplicity’s sake, these conditions have been condensed into three general categories.
- Communication,
- Structure, and
- Personal Variables.
These 3 conditions cause conflict are explained;
1. Communications
Different words connotations, jargon insufficient exchange of information and noise in the communication channel are all antecedent conditions to conflict.
Too much communication, as well as too little communication, can lay the foundation for conflict.
2. Structure
In this context, the term structure is used to include variables such as size, the degree of specialization in the tasks assigned to group members, jurisdictional clarity, members/goal compatibility, leadership styles, reward systems and the degree of dependence between groups.
The size and specialization act as forces to stimulate conflict. The larger the group and the more specialized its activities, the greater the likelihood of conflict. Tenure and conflict have been found to be inversely related.
3. Personal Variables
Certain personality types- for example, individuals who are highly authoritarian and dogmatic- lead to potential conflict. Another reason for conflict is the difference in value systems.
Value differences are the best explanations of diverse issues such as prejudice disagreements over one’s contribution to the group and rewards one deserves.
Stage 2: Cognition and Personalization
Conflict must be perceived by the parties to it whether or not the conflict exists is a perception issue, the second step of the Conflict Process.
If no one is aware of a conflict, then it is generally agreed that no conflict exists. Because conflict is perceived does not mean that is personalized.
Stage 3: Intentions
Intentions are decisions to act in a given way, intentions intervene between people’s perception and emotions and their overt behavior.
Using two dimensions cooperativeness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy the other party’s concerns) and assertiveness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy his or her own concerns) five conflict-handling intentions can be identified.
There are 5 conflict-handling intentions;
- Competing (I Win, You Lose),
- Collaborating (I Win, You Win),
- Avoiding (No Winners, No Losers),
- Accommodating (I lose, You win), and
- Compromising (You Bend, I Bend).
